


WhoLock: The Solar System

by KingOfHearts709



Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock - Fandom, wholock - Fandom
Genre: Left Behind - Freeform, Sad, TARDIS - Freeform, The solar system - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfHearts709/pseuds/KingOfHearts709
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But Sherlock could never tell anyone why he hated the solar system.</p>
            </blockquote>





	WhoLock: The Solar System

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit sad. xoxo

John looked from his armchair to his flatmate and best friend, Sherlock, who lay across the couch, hands steepled as he wandered through his mind palace.  
“Sherlock,” he started, “you know, you never told me why you deleted the solar system.”  
“What?” Sherlock said, almost losing his train of thought. “Oh, yes, I just find it an extreme waste of space.”  
“Well, yes, but something must’ve driven you to think that. You couldn’t have just thought that it was out of the blue.”  
“Yes, that is what I did. I decided a long time ago that it didn’t matter to me. The solar system, space, stars, anything. I may very well appreciate its beauty, but that doesn’t mean I have to care about it.” Sherlock left John with that, once again slipping back into his state of mind.  
Truthfully, John’s statement threw him off for just a moment, as John was indeed correct.  
He could vividly remember that day...  
~Flashback~  
A young William Holmes, age six, was almost fast asleep in bed, still not quite sure if he was tired. Nevertheless, his older brother, Mycroft, had told him to. He wasn’t going argue with him, as he was much smarter. As his eyes drifted closed, he heard a strange sound coming from outside his bedroom window. Snapping himself awake enough, he jumped out of bed in his pyjamas and ran to the glass to see a large, blue police box sat in the backyard.  
Deciding to ignore his brother’s orders, because this was much more interesting than sleep, he ran out of his room, being careful to not make any noise walking past his brother’s and parents’ room. Out of sight and through the back door, he marvelled at the sight of the telephone box. The front of it opened inward, and a man stepped out with a leather jacket and a crop cut.  
“Hello,” he greeted warmly at William. “What’s you name?”  
“William,” the little boy answered. “I’m William Holmes.” Then he tilted his head in curiosity. “Who are you?”  
“Call me the Doctor.” William nodded and looked at the box.  
“Is that a spaceship?” he asked.  
“Yes, it is.” As William’s eyes lit up in excitement, he jumped.  
“A real one?” he grinned. “You have a real spaceship?”  
“Yes. You can come and see, if you want to.” Not stopping for any changes in the strange man’s mind, William ran past him and pushed open the box’s door.  
It was... bigger on the inside?  
“Wow!” William practically yelled as the Doctor followed him inside. “This is really cool!”  
“I know,” the Doctor smiled. Then William turned to him.  
“You’re an alien, aren’t you?”  
“Is that a problem?”  
“Not really, as long as you don’t kill me. I’ve seen a lot of telly and most of the aliens kill people.”  
“I won’t kill you, I promise.”  
“Can we go somewhere?”  
“Where do you want to go?” William thought for a moment. Any other little boy would say to take him to the future, he thought. That’s not what he wanted.  
“I want to see the solar system!” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air, then dropping them for a moment. “We can do that, right?”  
“Sure, we can.”  
“But I have to get back right after. Mummy and daddy might notice I’m not in bed.” The Doctor smiled at him and led him to console of the box.  
“Did I ever mention it travels in time?” he said, and threw down a lever. The box shook and threw the two around, William giggling and laughing as his small fingers wrapped around the larger hand of the Doctor. The chaos stopped and William rushed to the doors, pulling the man along with him. As the doors opened, William stared at the sight before him.  
“This is so cool,” he breathed, and the Doctor hoisted William on his shoulders.  
“Say, what made you want to see the solar system?” the Doctor asked as he looked at the child’s face.  
“I always thought stars were really pretty,” William explained, “and my brother was the first to tell me about the stars. So I looked at a lot of stuff and wanted to know more about the solar system. But really, it’s not that hard to learn about it.”  
“Well, you must be a bright child.”  
“No. My brother Mycroft is really smart. I’m kind of stupid.” The Doctor furrowed his brows and set William down, sitting so his legs were swinging out of the box.  
“William,” he began, “sometimes when you’re young, you will think you’re not smart because you haven’t learned anything. Now, when you look at the stars, what do you see?” William turned his gaze to the solar system.  
“Lots and lots of balls of gas,” he stated.  
“Now, you see, most children wouldn’t know that. I didn’t even know that until I was, oh, a hundred or so. But the point is, you’re not stupid. Nobody is. Some just know more than others.” William blinked at the man.  
He was the first one who ever thought that. And the only one who ever would for a long time.  
~Timeskip~  
At age twelve, William had opted to start calling himself Sherlock after the death of his dog, Redbeard. Every few nights, he’d look out of the window hoping a large blue box would appear on the lawn. The Doctor promised him he would come back.  
Apparently, he was living on false hope.  
And so he sat by the window one dreary, misty night waiting for the inevitable. He sighed and looked away. Then the noise came again. That noise of hope and life wafted through the air like Christmas, and Sherlock jumped away and past everyone’s room to the backyard once again.  
“Doctor!” he called to the box, hoping the man in the leather jacket would walk out and greet him with a smile. Instead, he was greeted with a long, fleeting tan trench coat and a pinstripe suit, followed by ruffled brunette hair and old eyes.  
“William!” he smiled when he saw the young man standing, stricken with something of shock. “Hello!”  
“Um... actually, it’s Sherlock now,” Sherlock said, then tilted his head. “Who are you?”  
“It’s the Doctor, remember? We saw the stars, up there?”  
“You look different. You changed your face.” The Doctor walked to Sherlock and put his hands on his shoulders.  
“Trust me. It’s the Doctor.” Sherlock, somehow, knew he could trust the Doctor, even if he had a new face.  
“We’re going to see the stars again, right?” he asked hopefully. “Like you promised?”  
“Yes, we are,” he said, and led Sherlock into the box.  
“You’ve redecorated the inside,” he commented as he stepped through. “To be honest, I liked the one before.”  
“Well, new face, new room,” the Doctor shrugged, and pulled a lever, which was the only thing that didn’t seem to change. The box shook like the first time, and stopped. At the doors, Sherlock threw them open and stared at the sight before him. It had definitely changed from the last time.  
“It’s been six years,” he said as the Doctor sat beside him, legs out.  
“It has?” he asked, confusion lacing his voice.  
“You don’t know?”  
“I’ve forgotten.” Sherlock looked down and ran his hand across the wood.  
“What is your spaceship called? You never told me the first time.”  
“Time and relative dimensions in space, or TARDIS.”  
“Funny name, that.” The Doctor chuckled, and Sherlock looked at him.  
“Next time, when you come,” he started, “will you make me wait again?”  
“I can’t promise that,” he stated.  
“You can’t promise a lot of things, I guess.”  
“But this time, you won’t make me wait too long?”  
“No.”  
~Timeskip (again)~  
Sherlock turned eighteen by the time he had given up on the Doctor. He told him he wouldn’t make him wait, yet it had been another six years. He never once told Mycroft or his parents about the Doctor; he was afraid they wouldn’t believe him.  
And so, once he had given up, he blocked out anything to do with the Doctor. He didn’t want to think about him, ever, about how he’s let him down. And then the noise came, one last time, in the middle of the night.  
“Doctor,” he said as he strolled to the backyard to stare at the doors of the TARDIS. They opened to reveal a man with a blue bowtie and a tweed jacket, with floppy hair and a crooked smile.  
“Hello, Sherlock,” he grinned.  
“It’s been six years.”  
“Six years.” The Doctor looked down for a moment. “I’m sorry.”  
“It’s me who should be sorry. I should have never trusted you.”  
“Why?”  
“You’ve made me wait for you, and every night I used to stay up waiting for you.” His fists clenched into balls. “You’ve lied to me.”  
“Sherlock, I-”  
“No, Doctor,” he cut him off. “Just stop there. I refuse to listen to you.”  
“Sherlock, you have to,” he said sternly as he walked forward. “I am sorry I couldn’t come sooner. Time is not the boss of me, but it twists and bends, and sometimes I can’t control it.”  
“That’s an excuse, and a petty one at that.”  
“It’s true, and I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner.” Sherlock sighed. This man, this person who had told him he was smart, who he had given up on, had already gained his faith again.  
“I’m guessing you can’t come back after this,” he said, his voice softer.  
“I can’t, no,” the Doctor replied, then put his hand in his pocket to search for something, “but I got you something.” After finding it, he placed it in Sherlock’s hand.  
“It’s a star,” he said, staring at the beauty inside the small glass globe on the keychain.  
“I found it, thought you might like it to remember me by.” Sherlock pocketed the item, and looked to the Doctor.  
“Thank you,” he said, and this time, he meant it.  
~End of Flashback~  
“Sherlock?” a voice said, accompanied by snapping fingers. “Sherlock?” It was John.  
“What?” Sherlock mumbled, pulling away from his thoughts.  
“Here.” There was a mug of tea wavering by his face, so he took it and sat up, taking a sip.  
“Thank you, John,” he said quietly as he drank. Joh eyed him suspiciously.  
“You okay?” he asked.  
“Me? What? Oh, yeah, fine. I’m fine.” He put the tea down and felt around in his dressing gown pocket. His fingers ran across the small orb of the star he had gotten many years ago. Walking to the window, he sighed as he looked down to the darkened street below.  
And, from the corner of his eye, a man with grey hair walked by, with just the hint of a smirk towards the window.


End file.
